| Sacramento, California - On September 10, Arnold McMahon and the Radcliff family met with Governor Schwarzenegger's aide, Yolanda Benson, to clear up the many scare tactics with which Skip Daum and the CAI, CLAC, and CACM lawyers and lobbyists have been bombarding our governor, the legislators and the general populace through newsletters and the press about AB2598
Our $285,000 home was foreclosed upon for $120 by Coast Assessment of Garden Grove, and the property management firm for our HOA, Copper Cove at Lake Tulloch. 2003 dues were paid late and then refused and returned, in violation for the Fair Debt Practice Act. This foreclosure happened in the current year of dues owed. We have been humiliated and lost our entire life's savings.
We spend most nights in worry and agony instead of rest. We had no idea such a horrible law existed. We spend much time with the doctors in a futile attempt to control depression and stress related pain and illness. And because these CAI lawyers and their associates seem to have unlimited funds, we will probably run out of money long before our case will come to court. Therefore, they will have succeeded rendering another California family homeless or worse, in sending them to their graves.
And we are not the only ones. This typically happens to the elderly and disabled, who are often confused by the system and feel incapable of fighting back. We fell into this category. Had it not been for our very strong and fine sons, we probably would have rolled over and let them tromp all over us and our rights, before we just lay down and died. This is simply wrong. AB 2598 will right this wrong so that others will not suffer the same fate as we.
I find it appalling that Mr. Daum and his associates hold the American people, specifically the California homeowners, in such low esteem as to state that now homeowners will suddenly lose their honor and integrity and stop paying their dues until they reach $2500. I find it equally appalling that they assume that HOAs will now have to increase their dues to protect themselves. (Where is the mention of the required reserve funds?) They are assuming that every homeowner, or at least a very large portion, in the HOAs are dead beat freeloaders, that there is no longer any integrity in any person who wishes to own his own home.
If these things are true, then we must also assume that all HOAs are clearly awaiting the opportunity to foreclose on any home, because the homeowner that lives there is a dead beat freeloader.
There can never be any extenuating circumstances such as illness, disability, or temporary unemployment. If this happens, it doesn't matter because the homeowner is a dead beat freeloader. Also the counties make money by not having to spend their local funds on roads, drainage, and sewer systems, all this the homeowners pay for in addition to property taxes.
Is the California populace so naive as to believe that developers will walk away from developing a property simply because there MIGHT be a possibility that HOAs will not be able to guarantee that they can collect ALL dues? Developers were building large subdivisions long before the HOA ever came into being and coincidentally, making huge profits.
Is the California home buyer so naive as to believe that lenders will actually turn down home mortgages because living in a HOA will open questions as to loan security and call it impaired? If so, we must also believe that the procedures they now follow in reviewing mortgage applications is inadequate, that they actually do not want to loan money, and that all people who buy a home in the future wish to lose their property.
Mr Daum and his associates realize that they stand to lose a lot of money if this bill passes. It will not be a loss to the homeowner or the HOA, but to the lawyers who created this trillion dollar foreclosure industry in the first place and the the board members and law makers receiving various payoffs and kickbacks.
Passing AB 2598 will be only a drop in the bucket of regaining the rights of the HOA homeowner, but it is a good start and MUST be passed. |
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